Saturday, September 11, 2021

Kurdistan attacked again

Earlier this week, Iran attacked the Kurdistan (northern area of Iraq) with bombs and drones (called "suicide drones" by the press for some reason).  Today, northern Iraq was attacked again.  ALJAZEERA reports:


Erbil International Airport in northern Iraq has been targeted in a drone attack, Kurdish security officials said, the latest in a series of similar incidents over the past year.

The internal security service for Iraq’s autonomous Kurdish region, of which Erbil is the capital, initially said three rockets had hit near the airport. 

A second statement by the Kurdish counterterrorism force said the attack had been carried out by explosive-laden drones.


Dilan Sirwan (RUDAW) notes:

At least three blasts had been heard near the airport. According to initial reports from Rudaw reporters citing security forces, the blasts occurred outside the airport perimeter. 
 
[. . .]

This is the fourth time this year Erbil airport has come under attack. Previous attacks were blamed on Iranian-backed Iraqi militias who have demanded United States forces withdraw from Iraq. US forces are stationed at the airport.


                                                                             

Seth J. Frantzman (JERUSALEM POST) adds, "The area has been targeted by drones frequently over the last eight months and also by rockets in the past. Pro-Iranian groups in Iraq are alleged to use drones and rockets to target US forces at Erbil airport or threaten the US consulate in Erbil. "


No one knows who's responsible for this attack at present but, yes, Iran has been bombing the Kurdistan region -- which is where the Erbil airport is -- since Thursday.  RUDAW reports:


Iranian forces bombed the mountains around a village in northeast Erbil province on Saturday, terrifying local residents, according to the head of the village. Kurdish forces say it was an airstrike on the third day of attacks by Iran on Kurdish opposition groups based in the Kurdistan Region.

“Since 4am, Iran has been regularly bombarding the mountains in the vicinity of Barbzin, creating fear among the villagers. The lives of people who own livestock and farmers are in danger,” Mohammed Majid, mukhtar (chieftain) of the village, told Rudaw. 

The village has been under fire since Thursday when Iran launched attacks against Kurdish opposition groups located within Kurdistan Region borders, sending warplanes, drones, and suicide drones across the border. Areas around Choman, Sidakan, and Haji Omran in northeastern Erbil province are the focus of the attacks. Barbzin is located in the Sidakan area. 


Also bombing the region?  The Turkish government which uses War Planes to drop bombs on the area and has also sent ground troops in.  Many civilians have been killed as a result.  THE NEW ARAB notes:


During a regular session of Arab foreign ministers on Thursday, the Arab League condemned Turkey’s military presence in a number of countries in the region.

It called on Ankara to withdraw all its forces present in these countries and "stop supporting extremists organisations and militias."

The league also condemned Turkey for "hosting extremist groups" and providing them with a haven, as well as its financing of media platforms the league said incites the use of violence in Arab states.

Ankara has maintained a military presence in war-torn Libya and Syria for years, and frequently targets Kurdish rebels in northern Iraq with airstrikes.


In other news,   Durrie Bouscaren (PRI) reports on the drought issues plaguing the region:

Muhammed Fouad, a cattle rancher, was just two years into a venture to bring affordable milk to his hometown in Iraq’s Anbar province, when — seemingly overnight — the cows started dying. 

“We brought in veterinarians from Erbil, because they were OK and suddenly dying the next day,” Fouad said in a phone call, through a translator.

The initiative left him with $350,000 in damages. Fouad had to lay off his employees and sell his home to pay his debts to the project’s investors. He now works in construction, back in Erbil.

Unprecedented drought — driven by climate change and exacerbated by upstream irrigation — is wreaking havoc on some of the world’s oldest river-fed farmlands in Iraq and Syria.

A dry winter has pushed water levels on the Tigris and Euphrates to record lows, disrupting hydroelectric power facilities and concentrating pollution in the river to undrinkable levels. Aid groups estimate that 12 million people are affected, in a crisis they warn could tip the balance of the food system and livelihoods for the entire region.


NYT's Evan Hill Tweets:

The final act of the U.S. war in Afghanistan was a drone strike in Kabul that killed 10 people. Our latest investigation shows how a man the military saw as an "imminent threat" and "ISIS facilitator" was actually an aid worker returning to his family:
Video: ‘Imminent Threat’ or Aid Worker: Did a U.S. Drone Strike in Afghanistan Kill the Wrong...
The New York Times obtained exclusive security camera footage and witness accounts to show how the military launched a drone strike that



Let's note this thread from Glenn Greenwald: responding to that news

The Biden administration lied about who it killed with its drone strike. They had no idea who they hit. The media mindlessly repeated the false claim that they killed "terrorists" when, in fact, they just killed innocent people. A perfect summation of the US Endless Wars:


Look how this NYT reporter [Charlie Savage[ heralded the Biden Admin's drone attack -- which wen now know killed no terrorists but wiped out a whole family -- as a pinpoint strike showing what "remarkable" intel the US has in Afghanistan. Do you see how they spread Pentagon/CIA propaganda?


(This was the same NYT reporter who, when Trump announced his plan to leave Afghanistan by the end of 2020, spread the CIA's fake "Russian bounties" story that was then seized on by Raytheon Dems and Liz Cheney to insist we couldn't leave):
Russia Secretly Offered Afghan Militants Bounties to Kill U.S. Troops, Intelligence Says (Published...
The Trump administration has been deliberating for months about what to do about a stunning intelligence assessment.


An entire family in Afghanistan was extinguished to prevent Joe Biden from having to endure a news cycle accusing him of weakness in the face of the attack at Kabul Airport, accompanied by lies from his Pentagon/CIA and his media about who was killed.



The following sites updated:


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